The Hearing

The Letter Season 2: Ripple Effect

Lemonada Media

True Crime

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After years of dead-ends and rejections, Sy and Ron Snarr finally get the moment they’ve been hoping for - a chance to ask the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to release the man who murdered their son, Zach, from prison. But their desire to ask for mercy for Jorge Benvenuto, whose spent 28 years behind bars, means hurting someone they love - the other victim in the case, Yvette Rodier. The hearing means very different things to each family - and legally, it turns out to be much different than what the Snarrs requested.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada.
0:05.8	Hi, this is Amy Donaldson, host of The Letter.
0:09.2	Two years after we brought you season one of the letter, we're back with some news.
0:14.6	When we ended season one, the snars were exploring ways to help the man who killed their son get out of prison.
0:20.5	But because George Ben
0:21.8	Vino was sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole for killing Zachary
0:26.4	Snar, their only option was to convince the Utah Board of Pardons to hold a commutation hearing
0:32.8	to consider changing his sentence. Back in 2022, we promised we'd update you with any new developments.
0:40.4	And that's what we have for you today in this special episode.
0:46.5	When Sai and Ron Snar accepted a letter of apology from the man who murdered their son,
0:51.9	they received a gift that even privately forgiving him
0:55.2	hadn't given them. A deep conviction that anyone can change and everyone deserves a second
1:01.5	chance. Even someone who shot two teenagers he'd never met. I know him. I wish everyone knew him
1:09.4	like I know him. I know he is not that person. I think when my
1:13.8	grandson turned 19, I realized how young George really was when this happened. He was just a kid.
1:21.4	And he wasn't even 19 a month yet.
1:24.1	The letter George Benvenuto sent Sai and Ron Snar in 2018 became the beginning of a
1:29.6	relationship that has grown deeper with every letter exchanged, every phone call received,
1:35.3	every conversation shared. But forgiving George, getting to know him, even loving him, and his family,
1:42.9	it just didn't seem like enough, especially for Sy.
1:47.0	And I just feel so strongly that he needs another chance.
1:52.2	He deserves another chance.
	...

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